Poet Master

The horse's recent form reads 11-7-7-3-5-2, which tells you he is still mixing decent efforts with the duds, and Burke reckons he knows why. On his comeback run in slow, deep ground at the Curragh — his last win came there on 21 July 2024 — Poet Master simply got bogged down. The trainer has been watching him closely and believes the horse is stronger now, maturing into something better. The plan is to run him in the Listed Spring Trophy at Haydock on 10 May, then step up to the Group 3 John of Gaunt Stakes on 31 May if all goes well. Those are proper races, and Burke would not be aiming there unless he thought Poet Master belonged.

The partnership with jockey Sam James tells the story best. James has ridden Poet Master in 10 races and won five of them — a 50 per cent win rate that makes him the clear choice in the saddle. After the Curragh win, James described the horse as still maturing, a bit headstrong, but with "more to come." After his Class 2 victory at Newmarket, James felt confident enough to suggest Poet Master could handle a mile. For a horse that has been racing around two miles, that is a significant statement. A six-year-old that is still improving, trained by a yard sending out 145 winners this season, with a jockey who knows him inside out — Poet Master looks like a horse worth watching.